Ministers urged to tackle violence and squalid living conditions at HMP Bristol
THE prisons watchdog has ordered ministers to step in immediately to tackle a filthy and dangerous jail.
Peter Clarke used the Urgent Notification power for just the fifth time to demand an action plan for HMP Bristol.
He said it was blighted by high levels of violence and squalid living conditions, and conditions had not got better despite it being placed in “special measures” two years ago.
In a “disturbing” inspection, a disabled prisoner was discovered who was forced to spend all day in bed because his wheelchair did not fit through his cell door.
In a letter to Justice Secretary David Gauke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Mr Clark wrote: “The chronic and seemingly intractable failings at Bristol have now been evident for the best part of a decade.
“A fundamental responsibility of any prison is to keep prisoners safe. In this, HMP Bristol has sadly failed.”
Inspectors found two-third of inmates had felt safe while inside Category B Bristol, with serious violence on the rise and poor care for suicidal prisoners.
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A hotline for those in crisis had not been checked for two weeks and had 21 voicemail messages on it.
Cells were overcrowded, “bleak and grubby”, and cockroaches were running everywhere.
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